According to Comptroller Auditor General (CAG), over 32% of tribal areas lack primary health centres (PHCs).

There’s a shortage of eight community health centres (CHCs), 88 PHCs and 358 sub centres (SCs) in tribal areas. In terms of percentage, the shortage works out to 11.94%, 32.71% and 19.94%, respectively. On the contrary, non-tribal areas have more than its quota of health facilities.

As per the Indian Health Standard (IPH), non-tribal areas had a surplus of 33% CHCs, 23% PHCs and 40% SCs in the state. “There are inequities in the availability of health infrastructure facilities in tribal areas when compared the non-tribal areas,” said the report.

“This indicates that emphasis has not been given to establish health facilities in tribal areas,” the report noted.

In the audit, it has also emerged that the government had failed to utilize the infrastructure created by it. In a joint inspection conducted between May-June 2016, the CAG noted that 17 buildings, constructed at a cost of Rs 43.22 crore, have not been put to use even after two to 70 months after completion.

The medical officer in-charge (MOIC) attributed the situation to non-availability of staff, construction of buildings at faraway places and lack of water and electricity connection.

No data on 23.20 lakh pregnant women

Times News Network

Jaipur: The total number of pregnant women registered in the state during 2011-16 was 95.31 lakh. As per data furnished by the health department, there were 67.03 lakh institutional deliveries and 5.08 lakh home deliveries. However, there is a gap of information on 23.20 lakh pregnant women, for which no data was available with the government.

Based on these figures, the CAG report said, “There is an urgent need to keep track of these pregnant women, considering the high maternal mortality rate (MMR) and infant mortality rate (IMR).”

The CAG also contested the government on the number of institutional deliveries. Against the target of 87.18 lakh intuitional deliveries, the state has reported only 67.03 lakh (76.89%) during 2011-16.

The report also refuted the claims of state government that institutional deliveries were gradually rising in Rajasthan. It said that the year-wise data of institutional deliveries showed it had stagnated between 75 to 78% during 2011-16. In fact, in seven districts, it decreased from 89.27% in 2012-13 to 77.91% in 2015-16.